Belief and The Great Intercession

"Make your prayer your life 

and your life your payer."

- Pope John XXIII

"If the only prayer you ever 

in your life is, thank you, it 

will be enough."

- Meitser Eckhart

"Being present to and grateful 

for all the wonder around 

and in you -- is prayer."

- Unknown

Inspiration/The Writing :

Aspiration is an unusual yet common condition . Hoping , 

wishing, dreaming or praying for something to 

magically or mystically transpire with a 

positive outcome is often what weary 

passengers on the planet call "hope".

Frequently some meditate or contemplate 

on a rescue or deliverance, healing , 

or achievement that might be beneficial for their well being.

However, when this personal practice is directed for the benefit 

of another or group who may be experiencing a 

current or potential difficult tragic circumstance -

Resulting with intercessions. 

How many times this hobo seeker contemplated ,

"Have I been like the paralytic lowered into the presence

of the great teacher by the love of his friends"?

Then just like that - out of the blue 

that unexpected transcedental wind

flipped the script.

How is it that random comets seem to eventually 

discover in the great almost unending expanse  

an intersection with a landing point?

How was it then that intermittent queues

of owners of lonely hearts meander their way

right into the middle of the seeker's 

own circuitous voyage across the universe ?

Neighbors , family members and strangers on the road

reverently began to reach out for hope , 

compassion and healing 

as they accidentally traversed paths 

with this pilgrim, challenging 

and humbling him .

These souls seeking consolation trusting

and believing that a prodigal's prayers

just might connect with some higher authority,

some light or unknowable source 

for relief.

"Pray for ..." they requested respectfully .

Restless nights became the status quo...

He dreamed , he thought, as that inner voice

cried out in the darkness,

"Why me?'

"Why not " was an immediate answer.

"But, why --- me !? "

" Remember " a mystical voice warmly chided.

"I don't understand.." the pilgrim wept.

"It is your turn."

- JF Sobecki

(see Coda below)

--------------------------------

Words: Poetry and Such (for your Inspiration)

I'm Going to Start Living Like a Mystic

Today I am pulling on a wool green sweater

and walking across the park in a dusky snowfall.

The trees stand like twenty-seven prophets in

a field

each at a station in a pilgrimage--silent, pondering.

Blue flakes of light falling across their bodies

are the ciphers of a secret , an occultation.

I will examine their leaves as pages in a text

and consider the bookish pigeons, students of

winter.

I will kneel on the track of a vanquished squirrel

and stare into the blank pond for the figure of Sophia.

I shall begin scouring the sky for signs

as if my whole future are constellated upon it.

I will walk home alone with the deep alone,

a disciple of shadows , in praise of the mysteries.

- Edward Hirsch

------

Music : for your listening pleasure and reflection

click on "links" below each picture for video and sound

Morning Glory - Tim Buckley

https://youtu.be/MgNxopvE3ro?si=ob-bm2mbXf08JICy

Turn!Turn! Turn! - Judy Collins and Pete Seeger

https://youtu.be/n0xzyhoeu1Y?si=8zOSEZC_eOVM0JU4

The Light that has Lighted The World - G. Harrison

https://youtu.be/GbVQov4MuKQ?si=7Bjw4uISbSqn0jLd

Questions for The Angels - Paul Simon ( w B.Frisell)

https://youtu.be/3zcZhgczTF0?si=7VbrDE6Wo2CtH1i6

"40" (Sing a New Song) - U2

https://youtu.be/5ba4RqOY0Ck?si=jza6IL_76kI6eR29

CODA: Now something from the lighter side

Sometimes one can find a dose of wisdom in the most unlikely places---

Ted Lasso - "Believe"

https://youtu.be/olPLvuvMcSE?si=mF9kd0_VsV0EMkUV

( for Sarah B )

AMDG

Copyright 2025 JF Sobecki LLC All Rights Reserved

Stargazing: An Ascetic Contemplation

The Milky Way

"Realize deeply that the present moment is all you have. Make the Now the 

primary focus of your life"

- E. Tolle

"For us there is only the trying. The rest is not our business."

-T. S. Eliot

“You admire the man who pushes his way to the too the top in any walk of life, 

while we admire the one who abandons his ego.” 

              - Seven Years in Tibet, Heinrich Harrier

The Inspiration :

* Recent outer space probes indicate to scientists  that our galaxy

 is made up of 100-400 billion stars ( each star  an equivalent size of our own sun )

 and that the galaxy is about 100 million light - years across. Our galaxy being

much like a grain of sand in the universe the size of the Sahara desert.

"Two important days in your life are the day you are born and 

the day you know why " 

-David Johnson , Director of the Global Owl Project

" Your grandfather once told me it was ok to think about what you 

want to do until it was time to start doing what you were meant to

be."

- Jim Morris Sr, ( To his son Jim Morris Jr.. from biographical film

 "The Rookie" )

The Writing:

Stargazing : An Ascetic Contemplation

Artificial Intelligence , the headline news of the 21st century.

Doesn't three thousand years of ignorance prove other wise?

Wondering while wandering the ascetic monk-in-training contemplates

The majestic cosmos : 

"Why do so many continue to try convince the lost

Wayward sheep that all that these sheep experience and know

Is the result a random accident or coincidence?

Is filling up one's trunk with wordly treasure

A true measure of one's worth ?

Earthly accomplishments are expected to be rewarded by most

When their Odyssey in that the earthen vessel in which they ride is finished.

Does it matter what name is given to the eternal spark,

The divine DNA, the source that gives all things life

and continues to reside in every aspect of creation?

"Make your life your prayer and your prayer your life, '

Read a faded script discovered on a subway wall . "

The novice monastic's stargazing 

Abandoned all the spiritual and material  busyness by letting go,

Showing compassion to everything and trusting the majesty .

    - JF Sobecki

-------------

The Poems and Such:

"Poetry is a gateway into intuitive consciousness. It knocks on the doors

 of the heart and the heart opens" 

 - Mirabai Starr

" To see the world in a grain of sand and heaven in a wild flower.'

- Wm. Blake

Buddha's Last Instruction

"Make yourself a light" , said the Buddha

before he died.

I think of this every morning

as the east begins

to tear off its many clouds

of darkness, to send up the first

signal-a white fan

streaked with pink and violet,

even green.

An old man , he lay down 

between two Sala trees,

and he might have said anything,

knowing it was his final hour.

The light burns upward,

it thickens and settles over the fields.

Around him, the villagers gathered 

and stretched forward to listen.

Even before the sun itself 

hangs , disattached ,, in the blue air,

I am touched everywhere

by the ocean of yellow waves.

No doubt he thought of everything

that happened in his difficult life.

And then I feel the sun itself

as it blazes over the hills

like a million flowers on fire _

clearly I'm not needed,

yet I feel myself turning

into something of inexplicable value.

Slowly , beneath the branches,

he raised his head.

He looked into the faces of that frightened crowd.

- Mary Oliver

The Music:

(Musical reflections on the inspiration)

Part Of The Plan - Dan Fogeberg

https://youtu.be/V1imSzUwy9g

The Soul of a Man- Bruce Cockburn

https://youtu.be/xUqFP3kGMZg

Love Comes to Everyone - George Harrison

https://youtu.be/LfpoQoHVnPo

Across The Universe - The Beatles ( World Wildlife Fund version)

https://youtu.be/iotagMCkJRE

Coda: For your listening and viewing pleasure if you desire:

Seven Psalms - Paul Simon

https://youtu.be/ANtntuDslnk

The End of The Line - Traveling Wilburys

https://youtu.be/UMVjToYOjbM

admg

Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved JF Sobecki LLC

Adventus Lauds

" ...Now darkness only stays the nighttime

In the morning it will fade away.

Daylight is good at arriving at the right time 

It's not always going to be this gray..."

- All Things Must Pass , G. Harrison

Merton Christmas Prayer

 Into this world, this demented inn

in which there is no room for him at all,

But because he cannot be at home in it,

because he is out of place in it

and yet he must be in it,

His place is with those who do not belong, 

who are rejected by power because

they are regarded as weak,

those who are discredited,

who are denied status of persons.

who are tortured, bombed and exterminated

with those for whom there is no room,

Christ is present in this world.

- Thomas Merton

The Holy Longing

Tell a wise person, or else keep silent

because the mass man will mock it right away.

I praise what is truly Alive.

What longs to be burned to death.

In the calm water of the love-nights,

where you were begotten, where you have begotten,

a strange feeling comes over you,

when you see the silent candle burning.

Now you are no longer caught in the obsession with darkness,

and a desire for higher love-making sweeps you upward.

Distance does not make you falter.

Now, in arriving in magic, flying.

and finally insane for the light,

you are the butterfly and you are gone.

And so long as you haven't experienced this: to die and so to grow,

you are a troubled guest on the dark earth.

- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, translated by Robert Bly

Let the Angels sing

"PEACE ON EARTH GOOD WILL TO MEN"

----------------------------------------

 Adventus Lauds

So in this time of waiting;

Pandemic never ending, elections denied -

No lives seem to matter,

The pilgrim pondered,

"Are not all gifts blessings and

all blessings gifts and if this is not true

how does any of this matter?

Is not all creation a gift of unconditional love

to live in total love , peace and hope?"

The usual suspect's father once confided

"Blessed are the peacemakers as they 

shall see God first."

The sherpa quietly packed the bags

for the journey with a mantra

that he would only instruct

the novice pilgrims in the ways of peace.

Do you ever wonder from what seed was narcissism, greed and violence born?

Were we not to share everything for the common welfare

of all creation?

Is the creed such that sentient beings are gifted breath 

and life to only benefit themselves?

As so with every ending comes a new beginning.

The ashes of the recent passage

leads to the spark ever-present that we rekindle

deep within the mystery of our own souls

where the common DNA found in the great teacher

illuminates again with hope, light , peace, compassion , mercy and love.

- JF Sobecki

..................

Journey of the Magi - TS Eliot ( read by Hugh Laurie)

https://youtu.be/qyas4QpWM-E

Seasons Best Ad ( Message)

https://youtu.be/6PH88aAL7hU

Getting Ready - P. Simon

https://youtu.be/5Q_y4IqeQe8

The Cry of a Tiny Babe - B. Cockburn

https://youtu.be/YmZlYiMCvSc

Do They Know It's Christmas

https://youtu.be/bjQzJAKxTrE

The True Meaning of Christmas Charlie Brown

https://youtu.be/sOofCTbv96s

Live Peace- Teach Peace - Be Peace- Colman McCarthy

https://youtu.be/d6oc9nd_o7k

For RELIGIOUS FANATICS ONLY - Charlie Brown Story

Charlie Brown asked Lucy why she was so happy. Lucy explained how it was "Christmas" and explained further that this was the time of year to "spread joy, caring, compassion, giving, peace and love."

Charlie Brown wondered to Lucy "Why do we do these things at "Christmastime" and why can't we do these things and be that way all year round?"Lucy yelled at Charlie Brown , "What are you some type of religious fanatic?"

Now sit back relax and watch the full film version of"Scrooge" with Alistair Sim ( 1951)

"Business" cried the Ghost, wringing his hands again."Mankind was my business.The common welfare was my business: charity, mercy, forebearance and benevolence, were all my business.The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business"

    - The Ghost of Jacob Marley, A Christmas Carole , C, Dickens

                

                                               https://youtu.be/cm4780aYfaw

Hope you are all safe and well.

Merry Peace-filled Christmas and Happy New Year Everyone!

amdg

Copyright 2020 All Rights Reserved JF Sobecki LLC

Welcome Charlotte Ann - Born on November 18, 2019 to Lindsay and Joe Malone:A Christmas Post

A

"Dear Child of God, you are loved with a love that nothing can shake, a love that loved you long before you were created, a love that will be there long after everything has disappeared.”

    —Desmond Tutu

“Like a stone on the surface of a still river

Driving the ripples on forever

Redemption rips through the surface of time

In the cry of a tiny babe”

     - Cry of a Tiny Babe, Bruce Cockburn

Dear Charlotte

They say the greatest gift one can receive or give is the gift of love.

It is no doubt then that your arrival to this world and presence is in truth a sacred event, a sacrament. You are the embodiment of love , the love between your mother and your father, the love of your sister as well as the love of your extended family. But most of all your life, as a life and creation, is a gift of God , as God is the act of love itself. Your family and the world is blessed by your presence…your beauty, your truth, your wonder, your delight, your trust, inquisitiveness and your unconditional love for those around you. It has been said “Fall in love , stay in love because that is everything .”

Everyone around you loved you before you arrived and if it is possible we all loved you even more the moment you were born.I believe that the best way to maintain and grow this love is to : be authentic and be the person you are meant to be( follow your heart); be honest , truthful and kind ; act and live in integrity; love everyone and everything; be selfless; remember those who are less fortunate than you ; always be grateful and humble ; there are good and bad people in this world - know and trust the good people in your life; when you hear good music dance your heart out; remember poetry and many songs are windows to the great secrets of the universe; when I felt alone or blue I would walk along a great beach or head for the pastoral beauty of a forest( I would know I am not alone)- Nature thrives and fills up the soul with the sacred ; don’t be afraid to be amazed as you will always amaze everyone; and, when in doubt pray… it works!

... and as John and Paul once wrote "the love you take is equal to the love you make."

Te viglio bene assai, bene assai.

Nonno

Xox

P.S. As I mentioned to your sister every time you hear a Beatles song …think of me because I am with you always.

Forever Young - Bob Dylan

https://youtu.be/Frj2CLGldC4

I hope you Dance - L. Womack

https://youtu.be/iN9bwC5UZUs

Remember Me - T. Rundgren

https://youtu.be/z4vJIhv67M4

And since you are a Christmas blessing -  here are a couple of my favorite Christmas songs for you.

Getting Ready For Christmas Day - P. Simon

https://youtu.be/5Q_y4IqeQe8

Do they Know Its Christmas -

https://youtu.be/bjQzJAKxTrE

Cry of a Tiny Babe - B. Cockburn

https://youtu.be/YmZlYiMCvSc

amdg

The Fantastic Four! 

Copyright 2019 JF Sobecki LLC All Rights Reserved

Rotation No.25,550

Great men want the four seas. I’ve only
wanted old age to come unnoticed like

This . My family together in one place,
kids and grandkids looking after each

other still, I linger out mornings over
koto and wine, the wine-jar never dry.

My clothes a shambles, exhausting every
joy, I sleep late now, and nod off early.

Why live like all those fine men, hearts
stuffed with fire and ice to the end,

their hundred-year return to the grave
nothing but an empty path of ambition?

- The Selected Poems of T’ao Ch’ien, translated by David Hinton © 1993.

Old – P. Simon

https://youtu.be/tKsjty-yT6U

The Human race walked the earth for 2.7 million
We estimate the universe to be 13-14 billion
When all those numbers tumble into your imagination
Consider that the lord has been here before creation
God is old
We're not old
God is old
He made the mold
Take your clothes off
Adama and Eve
  - Old, P. Simon

"As a white candle in a sacred place, so is the beauty of an aged face." 

      - Joseph Campbell

_______________________________________________________

Rotation 25,550

That day that was once only realized in dreams

Of poet musings and in the songs of sojourning desperadoes

Had provided evidence of finally being born.

Three score and ten years in the making

That recent almost never-ending cold dark night

Slowly faded into yesterday.

Bright red bead burning sanctified glow

Calmly and deliberately peaked

Over the endless sea’s horizon.

The third rock’s rotation prevailing again.

Picaresque hero shaded that unknown glow from blinding his eyes.

Seeing in the light would need to be relearned.

His voice too yearned to be recovered and heard.

They say that some winters are longer than others.

Some say that wandering forty years in the desert

Before accidentally discovering paradise

Is really no big deal.

Many lost pilgrims never get to reach the River Jordan.

Words of the quiet one repeated

Like the song of a wind chime breaking the silence

By the breath of God.

“The only real purpose is to discover God…

The answer is really how to find peace of mind.

That’s what we are really here for. “

Aging weathered worn wayfaring vessel

From the arduous constant journey slows the pace of passage.

Yet the spirit that set sail in the first place had slowly

Come to Ulysses’ realization.

The chartered mission never had the intention to be known

For battles won or by the size and number of beasts conquered

Or by the bounty of worldly treasure owned.

The fortune of the adventure to date

Was that the desire for possessions

Never completely possessed him.

“So far so good”

    - JF Sobecki

_________________________________________________________________

My Back Pages – B. Dylan

 

https://youtu.be/OZwncQfvaKk

Half-wracked prejudice leaped forth,"rip down all hate,"I screamed
Lies that life is black and white spoke from my skull, I dreamed
Romantic facts of musketeers foundation deep, somehow
Ah, I was so much older than I'm younger than that now.
 - My Back Pages, B. Dylan

Old Friends/Bookends

https://youtu.be/snVOxz6fjbA

Can you imagine us

Years from today

Sharing a park bench quietly?

How terribly strange

To be seventy

- Old Friends/Bookends  , P. Simon

EVERYTHING IS WAITING FOR YOU

Your great mistake is to act the drama
as if you were alone. As if life
were a progressive and cunning crime
with no witness to the tiny hidden
transgressions. To feel abandoned is to deny
the intimacy of your surroundings. Surely,
even you, at times, have felt the grand array;
the swelling presence, and the chorus, crowding
out your solo voice You must note
the way the soap dish enables you,
or the window latch grants you freedom.
Alertness is the hidden discipline of familiarity.
The stairs are your mentor of things
to come, the doors have always been there
to frighten you and invite you,
and the tiny speaker in the phone
is your dream-ladder to divinity.

Put down the weight of your aloneness and ease into
the conversation. The kettle is singing
even as it pours you a drink, the cooking pots
have left their arrogant aloofness and
seen the good in you at last. All the birds
and creatures of the world are unutterably
themselves. Everything is waiting for you.

  -- David Whyte
  ©2003 Many Rivers Press

I Worried

I worried a lot.  Will the garden grow, will the rivers

flow in the right direction, will the earth turn

as it was taught, and if not how shall

I correct it?

Was I right, was I wrong, will I be forgiven,

can I do better?

Will I ever be able to sing, even the sparrows

can do it and I am, well,

hopeless.

Is my eyesight fading or am I just imagining it,

am I going to get rheumatism,

lockjaw, dementia?

Finally I saw that worrying had come to nothing.

And gave it up.  And took my old body

and went out into the morning,

and sang.

   - Mary Oliver

Oftentimes there are those who can articulate through poems and songs precisely what has been rumbling on within ( Please watch all four parts)

George Harrison’s Last Interview p 1

 

https://youtu.be/50LfH0I879g

George Harrison’s Last Interview p 2

 

https://youtu.be/cZYozQfn8a0

George Harrison’s Last Interview p 3

https://youtu.be/dxmG0R9S2Qg

George Harrison’s Last Interview p 4

https://youtu.be/fdSb4zddOzo

amdg

Copyright 2018 All Rights Reserved JF Sobecki LLC

Repeat When Necessary 2017 (+ New Homes and New Chapters)

Getting Ready For Christmas Day- Paul Simon

https://youtu.be/5Q_y4IqeQe8

The congregation complained that their pastor was becoming redundant and putting people to sleep every Sunday with the same ole sermon...blah, blah, blah. The pastor then one Sunday commented from the pulpit that he heard their concerns and after listening to their confessions and observing their behavior in the community he said the message in the sermons would continue to be the same until they got it.

"Into this world, this demented inn, where there was absolutely no room for him at all, Christ comes uninvited.”

- Thomas Merton

For Religious fanatics only...

Charlie Brown asked 
Lucy why she was so happy. Lucy explained how it was "Christmas" and
 she explained further that this was the time of year to "spread joy, 
 caring, compassion, giving and love." Charlie Brown wondered to Lucy, 
 "Why do we just do these things at Christmastime and why can't we do 
those 
things all year round?" Lucy yelled at Charlie Brown "What are you
 some type of religious fanatic?"

“Christmastime is a little jolt to stop us and get us back on the right path.”

  - Unknown

“But you were always a good man of business, Jacob,' faltered Scrooge, who now began to apply this to himself.

Business!' cried the Ghost, wringing its hands again. "Mankind was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence, were, all, my business. The deals of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!”

― Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol

Cry of a tiny babe – Bruce Cockburn

https://youtu.be/YmZlYiMCvSc

What’s so Funny about Peace, Love and Understanding? - E. Costello

 https://youtu.be/eJ1ZQ99pKbY

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy New Year …

Peace on Earth….

“May God bless us everyone”

***********************************

New Homes and New Chapters

Sometimes a sign of growth and progress can be discovered not just in what type of shelter we live in but also how we live in that shelter and make it a living and vibrant home; a place where we know we belong. Sometimes this shelter is a weigh station as we continue to make passage. New chapters wait to be written. Sometimes this shelter becomes a final resting and launching spot for that third act ... the finisterre.

(For Lindsay, Joe, Caroline, Chase, Leigh, Hal and Quinn as they move on to their new homes that wait to be filled with life and love.)

The House of Belonging

I awoke
this morning
in the gold light
turning this way
and that

thinking for
a moment
it was one
day
like any other.

But
the veil had gone
from my
darkened heart
and
I thought

it must have been the quiet
candlelight
that filled my room,

it must have been
the first
easy rhythm
with which I breathed
myself to sleep,

it must have been
the prayer I said
speaking to the otherness
of the night.

And
I thought
this is the good day
you could
meet your love,

this is the black day
someone close
to you could die.

This is the day
you realize
how easily the thread
is broken
between this world
and the next

and I found myself
sitting up
in the quiet pathway
of light,

the tawny
close grained cedar
burning round
me like fire
and all the angels of this housely
heaven ascending
through the first
roof of light
the sun has made.

This is the bright home
in which I live,
this is where
I ask
my friends
to come,
this is where I want
to love all the things
it has taken me so long
to learn to love.

This is the temple
of my adult aloneness
and I belong
to that aloneness
as I belong to my life.

There is no house
like the house of belonging.

– David Whyte

 Our House - C,S and N

 https://youtu.be/FqIc2GYox5E

amdg

“One day I will find the right words and they will be simple”

        - Jack Kerouac

“The only truth is music”

       - Jack Kerouac

Copyright 2017 JF Sobecki LLC All Righst Reserved